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Kevin Willett says being upfront about your intentions is a better business plan

This week three of my connections have posted about how mad they get when people connect with them on social media and then try to sell them something right away. I understand the importance of getting to know, like and trust someone, but I am ok with you pitching your services to me, because I have the right to say no.

I have had a few people reach out to me and say they love what I am doing with my networking groups and they want to meet up to hear more about how they can get involved. Then when I meet them, they go into their pitch and often get upset that I wasted their time when I tell them that I am not interested. So, in fact, they weren’t interested in getting involved, they just wanted to sell.

If we are being honest with each other, most people myself included, connect with people because we hope that they will do business with us or be a referral partner, so why not just come out and say that.

Let’s make you a Financial Advisor for a moment. If you connect with me and say that you would like to meet me to talk about what you do, to see if you can help me, then I can consider the offer and say yes or no. For me I would say I have an amazing advisor that I like, but If you are open to it, I would still like to meet you to see if we can help each other. Then they can decide if that’s what they want to do.

I listen to a podcast and I love the guys approach. He reaches out to people and says I am involved in this company and I am not sure if you are open to hearing more about it, if you are that’s great if you are not that cool too. Please let me know. I think this approach is perfect.

I have had people get mad at me and disconnect from me because I asked them if they were open to attending business networking events. Now I can respect your decision if you feel that I offend you, but by disconnecting from me, I will never see any of your posts and never have a chance to help you. Wouldn’t it be easier just to say “hey thanks for thinking of me, but it’s not a match for me?”

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says being busy is one thing being neglectful is another

As I take on more responsibility, I must stop and ask myself what did I forget to do today? I can no longer keep everything in my head, so I have started using programs to keep track of the things I need to do and the people I need to reach out to.

For example, each week I reach out to 100 of my LinkedIn connections to ask them if they are interested in attending networking events. Often the answer is yes, and I send them a list of events for the month. However, if they did not attend any of the events from the list that month, I was not following up with them regarding future events. Out of sight out of mind. I was simply letting that opportunity slip, which defeats the purpose of reaching out to them in the first place.

One of the common issues I see is people forget to do things because they are busy. I am sorry my friends that is a weak excuse. People don’t care how busy you are. If you told someone you would follow up on something and you didn’t, that is bad. All that gets noticed is you did not keep your promise to them, which hurts your brand

I do my best at the end of each day to ask myself what promises did I make today, and did I keep them?

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says side trips are nice, but you must stay the course in order to succeed

One of my challenges is that I loved to be challenged. I am always willing to take on new opportunities. I have learned that I must be careful in this area because I have to stay focused on my primary business if I expect it to grow.

I see a lot of my friends taking on side businesses simply because they want to make extra money. Now I totally respect that we must pay the bills but, you have to be careful about the impact your side business is having on your primary business. Look at your social media posts. Are you posting more about your side business than your primary business? I have friends that do this, and my concern is at some point people may not reach out to you because they don’t feel you will give them the level of service that they expect or need. They may feel you are concentrating on your side business more. Give some thoughts to finding a balance to make sure your side job is not costing you business on your primary job.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

My answer to this question may surprise you. I think you should network when you are busy. I find many people stop attending events when they get busy because they tell me they do not have time. When I ask them why they are so busy, they often tell me that its from meeting people at networking events or from referrals from attending events. If that is the case, why would you stop?

Now I understand you may have to be more selective about the events you attend, but you should continue to attend events to keep your pipeline active and avoid an eventual decrease in your business.

I see a lot of people only attend events when things slow down. The challenge with doing this is it takes time to build and rebuild those connections. It is super easy for people to forget about you when the don’t see you. That is why I believe you should network when you are busy.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says you are never too busy for a quick phone call or email

One of the common frustrations I hear from my friends is that they meet people at events who say they are interested in learning more about them, and then never return their calls or emails. Please stop doing this. Please stop ghosting people.

I understand that sometimes your priorities change and if they have simply tell the person who is trying to contact you. On the other end, if you ask someone for a quote, you owe them as yes or a no answer. I have been in the situation where I have asked someone for a quote and found out the cost is more than I wanted to spend on the project. Please take the time to reach out to the person and tell them your thoughts on the pricing or that you cannot hire them at this time. Now I know that this can be super awkward, but the person will respect you for being honest. When you ignore them you are killing your brand. What is the chance they will ever refer you? I say it is less than zero, meaning not only will they not refer you, they will talk badly about you. Don’t let this happen. All it takes is a phone call or quick email.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Yesterday afternoon I was super cranky because I did not hit my goals for the month. When this happens, you need to pause and analyze why it happened, so that you can adjust your plan to grow your business. In some cases, you may not have hit your goals because you simply did not put in the work, and in other cases sometimes things happen that are beyond your control. You simply must analyze the situation, learn from it and move on. Same rules apply when you have a great month, analyze the situation, learn from it and move on. Do not let one bad month derail your business. You need to stay focused and work towards your goals.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says that in business as in life, compromise works for everyone.

I received an email this weekend from a person asking to meet me for coffee. When I told him that I could meet him in about six weeks, he emailed me back saying that if I didn’t want to meet him, I should just say so and not lie to him about my schedule being so full. I then made it worse and told him that if he wanted to talk sooner then we could schedule a video chat. Sadly, that just made it worse. His response was ‘what are you too important to meet me in person’?

Please understand that sometimes the people you want to meet with are super busy, and they are not trying to hurt your feelings by asking you if they can video chat with you instead.

Time management has become my biggest challenge. When I combine teaching with hosting twenty networking events, I often struggle with having time to do everything I need to. Because of this I do have to think twice before I agree to drive more than 30 minutes to meet someone in person. Please understand that I am not trying to hurt your feelings, I am simply trying to grow my business. So rather than get upset about it, how about you offer to meet half way. That would be a big help and start off a business relationship on the right foot.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

One of the things that amazes me is how often people will meet someone at a networking event and proceed to tell them that they just used someone else who does what they do.

It happened last week. I had someone go on and on while talking to a realtor and a mortgage person about the great experience her child had purchasing a home and that she would recommend the realtor and mortgage person that her child used to everyone. Would you like to have been that realtor and mortgage rep listening to this lady tell you how great someone else in your field was?

Sadly, this happens all the time. Nobody wants to hear about how great their competition is. If you are doing this, please stop. When you tell the person how much you like their competition and how you refer everyone to them, the chance of them referring anyone to you is low. Don’t waste their time or yours if you are not open to new business relationships. More importantly, don’t insult them.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says expanding your affiliations increases the reach of you business

I meet a lot of people who only belong to one networking group. When I ask them why they haven’t tried other groups, they usually say things like “I feel safe where I am”, or “I am comfortable there”. That is OK, but I think you are missing a chance to grow as a person and as an entrepreneur.

I see people join groups based on gender, religion and education, and I do think that makes sense and that it is a good starting point. However, you must ask yourself, is the group providing you with enough business to reach your goals, if not then it is time to leave your tribe.

I was speaking to a friend last week that is very involved in his school’s alumni group because he knows everyone, and he enjoys the pride of being a member. However, the more we spoke the more he admitted that he wasn’t getting the quality or quantity of referrals he needed.

There is nothing wrong with joining groups because your share a bond with the members but focusing your efforts on those groups may be holding back your growth.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

I had coffee with a friend last week and she asked me my opinion about promoting her business on her personal Facebook page. She was concerned about upsetting her family and friends by posting too often about her business.

I have a few thoughts on this subject. First, please understand that your friends and family do not see every one of your posts unless they go on your wall and read them. Secondly, I think it is always about adding value and educating people. My friend sells skin care products. If she does a FB post saying ‘hey if you suffer from dry skin in the cold weather, you should consider using these types of products’, to me she is sharing knowledge that can help me and I do not see anything wrong with that.

I am not a fan of people sharing posts saying that their upline has challenged them to find 4 people to host parties this month. I am also not a fan of posting the same message on your wall every day that basically says buy my stuff or use my services. These posts are not helpful to the reader.

I just believe it is more effective to educate people about your goods or services before you try to sell to them.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon